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Though not a founder member of the band (Staples replaced David Wright), Staples and guitarist Chris Britton left their first group together, Ten Feet Five, in 1965 to form the classic line-up of The Troggs with vocalist Reg Presley and drummer Ronnie Bond.[1] They went on to have nine UK singles chart entries between mid-1966 and early 1968. In addition to playing bass on all the band's studio recordings of this period, Staples also wrote and sang several songs that appeared as Troggs album tracks and B-sides.

Staples married in 1968, and during his honeymoon Tony Murray first filled in for him on bass, finishing up the LP Mixed Bag in Staples' absence. Staples was ousted from the band shortly afterwards.

After The Troggs, Staples became firstly a pub landlord, and then an electrician.[2] He eventually started up a band called the Wild Things and is still writing songs and performing live. His latest song published May 2012 can be heard on his website. He contributed to the Troggs segment of the 1995 Channel 4 documentary, My Generation. In 2015 Staples reunited with Chris Britton to perform 'Wild Thing' with it's composer Chip Taylor as part of a forthcoming documentary about the song.